Lensbaby
Lensbaby is a line of camera lenses for DSLR and mirrorless cameras that combines a simple lens with a bellows/ball and socket mechanism for use in special effect photography. A Lensbaby can give effects normally associated with view cameras. The lenses are for use in selective focus photography and bokeh effects.
Overview
Lensbaby lenses can be used with most cameras that accept interchangeable lenses, mainly DSLR, SLR, mirrorless, 35mm film and PL mount motion cameras.The focus front standard can be manipulated off axis to move the sharpest area of focus to almost anywhere in the frame. This allows the important part of the subject to be rendered fairly sharp with everything else out of focus, even if it is the same distance from the camera. The Lensbaby naturally focuses at approximately 2 feet; closer focus is achieved by pushing the front of the lens out, and infinity focus is achieved by pulling the front of the lens toward the base of the lens. There is extreme spherical and some chromatic aberration outside the central "sweet spot". Lensbaby lenses have no electronic components, disabling auto-focus when mounted on modern cameras. The use of auto-focus is further undermined by the spherical aberration in the lens. In most cases, Lensbaby lenses require aperture priority or fully manual mode. The Lensbaby can also be used for infrared photography, but does not include an index mark for infrared photography.
History
Craig Strong, a professional photographer from Portland, Oregon, invented the first Lensbaby lens by combining a vacuum cleaner hose body and a large format speed graphic lens. Strong redesigned the original prototype. He then partnered with entrepreneur Sam Pardue to form Lensbabies, LLC. The Original Lensbaby was launched in 2004 at the WPPI tradeshow. Images taken with the Original Lensbaby featured a 'sweet spot' of sharp focus surrounded by directional blur. This effect was achieved through the use of a single element lens. The Original Lensbaby used interchangeable drop-in apertures held in by a rubber o-ring.In 2005, Lensbaby released the Lensbaby 2.0, an upgrade to the Original Lensbaby which featured a sharper, brighter optic, creating greater contrast between areas of blur and sharpness. The Lensbaby 2.0 used interchangeable aperture disks that levitated in front of the optic using magnets.
In 2006 Lensbaby introduced the Lensbaby 3G, which used a threaded rod system in combination with a locking mechanism to allow the flexible lens body to be locked into place for repeatable results.
In 2007, the Lensbaby 3GPL was launched, allowing cinematographers to use Lensbaby lenses on motion picture cameras.
Optic Swap System
In 2008, Lensbabies was renamed to Lensbaby and released the Optic Swap System, a modular design that included three lens bodies, the Composer, Muse and Control Freak; each lens body accepted one of four interchangeable optics. The Muse featured flexible bellows and was similar in design to the Lensbaby 2.0. The Control Freak was an update on the Lensbaby 3G. The Composer introduced a new ball and socket design, which allowed the user to swivel the lens to move the sweet spot, along with a focusing helicoid.Concurrently, four interchangeable optics were released with the three lens bodies: Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic, and Pinhole / Zone Plate. The Double Glass is the multicoated glass doublet from the Lensbaby 2.0 and 3G. The Single Glass is based on the single, uncoated glass lens from the Original Lensbaby, but faster. The Plastic is a single plastic lens designed to be reminiscent of Holga and Diana cameras. All three lenses have a focal length of 50 mm. The Pinhole / Zone Plate can be toggled between a pinhole and zone plate.
In 2009, Lensbaby released two more optics: Soft Focus and Fisheye.
In 2010, Scout, the first "straight" Lensbaby lens body which could not be tilted, was released. It included the 12mm Fisheye optic. The Composer with Tilt Transformer also was released in 2010. The Tilt Transformer was an adapter that allowed Micro 4/3 and Sony NEX cameras to use lenses with Nikon F mount, combined with a ball-and-socket joint to enable traditional Lensbaby tilting effects, while the combined Composer with Tilt Transformer included a focusing helicoid that mounted on the Tilt Transformer and accepted Optic Swap System lenses with a 37 mm filter. The Composer with Tilt Transformer shipped with an additional, front-mounted optic adapter which changed the focal length by 0.8× to 40 mm and allowed the system to focus to infinity.
In 2011, Composer Pro, an upgraded version of the Composer, was released. Composer Pro was sold with the Sweet 35 optic, a "sweet spot" selective focus optic. Sweet 35 was the first Lensbaby optic to feature internal apertures. It was followed in 2012 by another optic with internal apertures, the Edge 80 optic. The Edge 80 optic produced a slice of sharp focus surrounded by smooth blur, similar to the effect created by a tilt-shift lens. For the entry-level market, Lensbaby introduced the all-plastic Spark in 2012; it has features similar to the Muse, bundled with a fixed-aperture glass doublet lens, and is compatible with other optics.
Despite the introduction of standalone lenses in 2014 and 2015, Lensbaby has continued to update the modular Optic Swap System. In 2015, Lensbaby released the Composer Pro II with a metal body and the Edge 50 optic, with features similar to the Edge 80 but with a shorter focal length. The Twist 60 was announced in 2016, featuring Petzval-like "swirly".
The Sweet 80 and Creative Bokeh optics were released in 2017. The Edge 35, another "edge" optic with a sharp focus slice, was added in 2019.
In 2020, Lensbaby released the Spark 2.0, an updated lens body for the Optic Swap System similar to the Muse and original Lensbaby. Two updated optics followed in 2021 and 2022. Obscura 50 has selectable pinhole, zone plate, and pinhole sieve openings equivalent to a focal length of 50 mm. Soft Focus II takes the same magnetic aperture discs as the original Soft Focus, but combines that with an internal iris diaphragm. The Double Glass II features similar upgrades, adding an internal diaphragm and changing the body to metal.
Standalone lenses
In a departure from its previous mount-plus-optic modular system, in 2014 Lensbaby introduced the Circular Fisheye lens, which was a complete, stand-alone lens in a single unit. In addition, Lensbaby also introduced the LM-10 that year, a "sweet spot" lens attachment for smartphones, funded through the Kickstarter crowdsourcing platform. The LM-10 was later sold in a bundle with LM-20 and LM-30 attachments.File:Underground with the Velvet 56 - Flickr - Anne Worner.jpg|thumb|right|Photograph taken at Chicago O'Hare International Airport with Velvet 56, demonstrating soft focus effect
In 2015 Lensbaby introduced another complete lens, the Velvet 56, a 56mm lens capable of 1:1 macro. This lens featured a singlet-doublet-singlet optical design the company claimed evoked the optical imperfections of lenses manufactured in the mid-1900s. By intentional incorporation of spherical aberration, the lens also provides a soft focus effect, more at larger apertures and less as the lens is closed down.
As a hybrid between the fully modular Optic Swap System and the standalone line, Lensbaby introduced the Trio 28 in 2016, which featured a non-interchangeable turret that could be switched between one of three 28 mm lenses, each with a different effect.
The Velvet 85 was launched in 2017, featuring the same "velvet" soft focus effects as the Velvet 56 in a classic portrait focal length. A standalone Velvet 28 followed in 2020.
In 2018, Lensbaby announced the Burnside 35, a wide-angle lens using a Petzval design and a secondary aperture to control vignetting and special effects, and the Sol 45, a "more restrained package" with features similar to the Composer Pro and a centering lock to eliminate tilt. The Sol 22 followed in 2019, with features similar to the Sol 45 but with a reduced focal length of 22 mm, exclusively for Micro Four Thirds system cameras.
A standalone Obscura 16 lens was launched for mirrorless cameras in 2020, simultaneously with the Obscura 50 Optic. Like the Obscura 50, the Obscura 16 includes selectable pinhole, zone plate, and pinhole sieve, at an equivalent focal length of 16 mm. In 2024, Lensbaby added the Sweet 22, its widest lens to date.
Products
Lens bodies
Lensbaby lenses mount directly onto SLR or mirrorless camera bodies. They have interchangeable drop in optics. Currently the lineup of lenses come with an optic installed.Composer Pro
The Composer Pro lensbody operates on a ball and socket and allows photographers to use selective focus on a tilted plane. This lens body comes with either a 50mm multi-coated optical glass doublet with drop in aperture, 35mm 4 multi-coated glass optic with 12-blade adjustable aperture or with Edge 80 Optic with 80mm focal length.
Spark
The Spark is the newest iteration of the Original Lensbaby. It contains a fixed 5.6 aperture optic and uses selective focus to create a center of focus surrounded by gradually increasing blur. It comes in either a Canon EF or Nikon F mount.
Muse
The Muse has a design similar to the Original Lensbaby and the 2.0. Its simple design consists of an interchangeable optic attached to a flexible tube bellows. The user both focuses and moves the area in focus by squeezing and bending the lens. It does not hold position and
requires the photographer to maintain the focus manually.
The Muse is available with a multi-coated glass optical doublet installed, and comes with f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, and f/8 aperture disks. It is compatible with 35mm cameras and PL mount.
Scout
The Scout does not have selective focus control and is intended for use as a traditional fisheye lens with a very close minimum focus distance.
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